sneaky pete: The pawn sacrifice 6... Nxe5 had been played before in Unzicker vs Rogoff, Amsterdam (IBM tournament) 1980 and maybe in other games not in this database . 11... Bb4!? (Larsen's over the board idea) is meant to deny the white queen access to a5 after .. f6 has been played.

"12.a3 f6 13.Qg3 Bd6 16.Bf4 .. gives back the pawn, and with bishop vs knight in an open position Black has a slight advantage. 12.c3 .. supports d4 but takes away the best square from the knight and weakens the white squares. Black would probably play 12... Bd6 13.Qa5 Bd5 and would feel happy that Bd5 cannot be kicked by the knight." Larsen in Ray Keene's magazine Modern Chess Theory (1981).

SgtPepper: Everret : Kasparov explains this game in My Great Predecessors vol. IV. 11...Bb4 prevents the white queen from getting to the queenside (a5) and thus creating a counterplay there. 12 c3 could be met with 12...f6 and 13...Be7.

optimal play: <sneaky pete: The pawn sacrifice 6... Nxe5 had been played before in Unzicker vs Rogoff, Amsterdam (IBM tournament) 1980> Also Kane vs Rogoff 1973 (not in chessgames database, see http://www.chesslab.com)
This may have been a preferred defence by Kenneth Rogoff. I’d mention it on his player page but I don’t think the posters there are interested in talking about Rogoff’s chess games!

goldenbear: <chessboy1998> If 12.c3, then 12.f6! and since Qa5 is not available to white, he must retreat his queen to the kingside. Black will then play Bd6 and white will again face a very difficult situation on account of the poor position of his queen and the possibility of a kingside pawn storm. This is the idea behind Larsen's brilliant Bb4!, to take away a5 from the white queen.

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